hive full up with brood

[newbie]

I have 2 colonies in WBC hives, both doing very nicely in the new summer that has happened ! Each colony has 1x BB and 1 x super. They have brood on all of the frames, and I saw eggs on the outside face of the outside frame too, so I know they are getting low on space for the queen to lay. Neither has much drone brood

One queen came with a small swarm or cast last May (I think she was a virgin queen - but am not sure) - the queen in the second hive was from an increase I made last summer, so nearly 1 year old.

One has 1 almost full super on, the other has 1 super being drawn, on.

There are no signs of any queen cells in either - so should I give them more space by adding a super as a brood box ? or are they better to be left as 1 brood box each only. If I go to brood and a half, does the half go on top of or underneath the BB and what are the pros and cons ?.. I did want to make up a third colony, but have no queen cells - so would I be best off leaving them to it ?
"leaving the bees to it" is my normal mode, as they know a lot more about it than I do ! any pearls of wisdom appreciated, thanks

 

[Poly Hive]

I would add another brood box underneath a bit quick.

PH

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Agreed. Brood box underneath. (My suggestion is NOT to go for brood and a half). ALSO a nearly full super means that another one is required - they need space to ripen the honey.

 

[newbie]

thanks, both...please can you shed any light on why you would double brood rather than brood and a half ? I don't know how I'll lift 2 BB !

 

[Swarm]

If nothing else you have brood frames that are all the same size and easily rearranged.

 

[newbie]

Double Brood ... good call , thanks all !

I double brooded both hives.

8 days later, inspection time, hive 1 doing fine, hive 2, no queen or eggs only 3 day old + larvae and lots of lovely sealed Queen cells. Looks like I lost a swarm

So I separated the 2 brood boxes, left only 1 sealed QC in each, gave them half of the full super each and half of the filling super, and made into hives 2 & 3.

I hope it works, weather is awful !

 

[newbie]

Well, I left hives 2 and 3 queenless with the 1x sealed QC each on 30th May. The weather has been awful since and the forecast is grim too.
Today, 12 days later, the weather has been calm enough for me to have a quick peek to check there are no other Q cells.

In hive 2 the 1 x QC I left was still sealed up, with a darker coloured tip.
Also, horror of horrors there were 6 newer sealed QC on the last frame I looked at.
So I took them all off, and as I did so one of the queens from these 6 emerged, so I left her to disappear into the hive.
I then went back to the original sealed QC with the intention of removing it and right before my eyes, she was hatching and disappearing into the hive. So now I have 2 virgin queens (that I know about !) in the hive.

I hope the bees can sort themselves out. Will they play safe and keep the 2 queens until one has successfully mated ? or will one Q kill the other straight away ? what if they both mate successfully - presumably they'll definitely fight it out then ? Considering they were queenless and have been stuck indoors for a while, they were very good tempered !

Hive 3 queen was emerging so I had a really quick look for other QC, and closed up, I didn't really look properly though... ho here's hoping there were no hidden QC.
Just when I think I am beginning to understand what's going on, they throw more questions my way !

Happy days !

 

[YorkshireBees]

Either the queens will fight it out leaving one dead and hopefully one still alive and not injured or one will leave with a cast swarm.

 

[bignikki]

I don't think you'll lose a cast.
They wont swarm unless there is a QC in the hive. Standard practice in this situation is to release a couple of Q's and remove any other QCs. They will fight it out untill there is only one Q to head the colony.
Well done!

 

[John R]

I'm no old timer at this bee keeping, only in my 2nd year, but one thing I am learning is to be thorough with my inspections and to act quicker than I used to. I too took a sit back and leave them to it approach, and still try not to interfere more than I need to, there is a balance though. This time of year is especially important for checking regularly for BB space etc, and knowing when QC's are around, likely date of build etc, and I now take regular notes and date lines. I lost a swarm last year at the beck end of summer and the hive never recovered due to a poor queen, took me down to 1 hive for the start of this year, which makes you vulnerable if that goes wrong.
Not trying to lecture, just passing on my view about the need to be thorough with this game.